Second Hand Cars for the Win!:
My Kim (aka my car) has been acting up lately – and I started looking into the possibility of trading her in. However, after the 2020 I am still trying to recover from, I have learnt that every single opportunity to save is necessary and buying a new car should never really even be an option unless you have money to waste, you addicted to the smell of a new car or you’re chasing the latest technology. Quite frankly, I don’t think there ever is a good enough reason to motivate a middle to high-income earner to buy a new car unless it’s competitively priced with a second hand one. Below are the reasons why a second-hand vehicle is always the right choice.
1. You will be paying more
If money is the least of your worries, it probably doesn’t matter whether you buy new or used. But if you identify with the rest of us and you’re pinching your pennies, you need a monthly payment that doesn’t stretch your budget or cause unnecessary financial strain. The good news is that buying a car doesn’t have to complicate your financial life. If you have good credit and you’re able to qualify for a new car loan with no hassles, banks may compete for your business and offer the best rate possible. But even with low-rate auto financing on a new purchase, a new car will be more expensive than an older version of the same car.
2. Faster Depreciation with Negative Equity
It’s not fair or right, but new cars depreciate faster than used vehicles. The sad reality is that the average new car can depreciate as much as 20% in its first year — and that’s just an average. What does this mean for you? To put it simply, if you buy a brand new car without a down payment, or if your monthly loan payment isn’t high enough to compensate for depreciation, you could end up owing more than the vehicle is worth.
Let’s say you pay R200 000 for a brand new car and R66 933 in finance charges over the length of a five-year term. This brings the total cost of your car to R266 933. We’ll factor in a 20% rate of depreciation for the first year, which brings the value of the car down to R213 546. Your payments are R6 228 a month, or R74 760 a year, so by the end of year one, you’ll owe the bank R138,786. Sure, you’re making progress on the loan. But since the value of your car dropped nearly R50 000, you now have negative equity and you owe R66 993 more than the car is worth.
Negative equity isn’t the worst thing to happen if you plan on keeping the car until it’s paid off. But if you’re the type of person who trades in vehicles every two or three years, negative equity can increase the cost of your next vehicle. If the dealership gives you R100 000 for your trade-in, yet you owe R138,786, the R38 786 difference doesn’t disappear. Instead, the dealer tacks the negative equity onto your next car loan. So instead of a sale price of R270 000 for your next vehicle, you end up financing R308 786.
On the other hand, if you skip the brand new car and buy a vehicle that’s one or two years old, you’ll be able to get the car at a price that’s more comparable to its actual value, and possibly avoid an upside-down loan.
3. You get more buck for Your Rand
Since cars depreciate rapidly within the first year, buying used is an opportunity to get more for less. I have a friend who purchased a one-year-old Toyota Camry XLE back in 2010. It was a top-of-the-line Camry with wood grain, leather seats, sunroof, rims, heated seats, JBL sound system, dual temperature control, fully loaded. Just one year prior, the car sold for about R350 000 brand new. However, she was able to purchase the vehicle for a little more than R250000. The car only had 20 000km and not a single scratch or stain. It was like buying a brand new car, without the brand new price tag.
I’ve attached an article below from #Topauto on the best 3 used cars to purchase that are priced under R150 000. Let me know what you think, agree, disagree – and contact me if you need any financial advice or assistance to cover your newly purchased ride.
Financial Planning, Insurance and Investment Photo: Short term Insurance
3 used cars you can buy for under R150,000
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